Even the simplest aggravations can be treated quickly and easily.  Do you have a wart? See your doctor and let’s freeze it off.  Is a fungal infection making your toenails less than attractive? We’ve got a cure that requires just a simple pill every day. Too much gas after certain foods? A little Simethicone and we’ve got you back in the party. Don’t like that cute little birthmark on your backside? You can have it removed by laser therapy.

Although these medical advances have improved our overall health and life expectancy, I am concerned that they have come with a price. As Americans, we live in one of the greatest societies every known to mankind. We embrace the privilege and opportunities afforded this great society.  We are blessed in so many different ways. But the availability of immediate gratification to so many problems has created a “consumer mentality” that has extended even into medicine. We are impatient and expect our illnesses to be immediately resolved. Whereas we once understood that a cold will take 3-4 days to run its natural course, and that rest and fluids were the hallmarks of treatment, today people do not want to wait but are looking for that instantaneous cure. They are willing to try anything to get that instant result they are seeking.

The medical field has been eager to oblige. We often blame pharmaceutical companies for the rising costs of healthcare as billions of dollars go into research and development and they pass this cost on to their consumers. But remember, our system relies on supply and demand, and the demand for that “instant cure” has only gotten stronger in the last few years. As consumers, we expect our health to be close to perfect given the advances of our day. Take cholesterol as an example. We have seen the benefit of lowering the LDL (bad cholesterol), how this decreases heart disease and improves longevity of life. Therefore, we demand the strongest pill with the least amount of side effects and the best price to accomplish that goal. We will settle for nothing less as an informed American consumer.

But what about personal responsibility? To use our cholesterol example, it is much easier to spend money on a pill that gets my cholesterol to its goal than it is to spend 60 minutes a day exercising and then eat a salad while my friend eats his steak and cheese fries. Why should the diabetic patient deny herself that piece of apple pie when simply adding a few units of insulin to her daily routine will keep that wayward glucose level intact? As a physician, I know that many patients cannot accomplish adequate health without the help of their medications. That is one of the primary reasons that I became a doctor, to help bring my medical training and expertise to patients needing wise counsel as they seek better health.

But good health has never just been about medicines. As a consumer, I can purchase medicine to “improve” my health, but I cannot actually purchase good health. We reap the consequences of the way we live. If I choose to smoke, I will face the effects in one way or another in my lifetime, whether it is cancer, heart disease, emphysema, or some other malady. Indulging in fattening foods may bring some gratification at the time, but it often will affect the body with diabetes, hyperlipidemia, or joint pain from obesity.

As a society, we would rather create new ways of coping with our inadequacies than simply facing and eliminating them. Let me purchase anything at any price to make me better, but don’t make me eat healthily and exercise. It is time that we face our impunity. Admit that we have met the enemy and it is us. We must realize that we cannot purchase good health and begin to live life as a healthy society again.

Obviously, a person with diabetes or hypertension needs to take their medicine to control the disease that is ravaging their bodies. We should expect to benefit from the wonderful research and discoveries of this last century. This is a true benefit of the life we live today. As a physician, I am a scientist and I urge my patients to take their medicines that will help treat their illnesses. But I see the medicines as just a piece of the puzzle that is our health. We must also do our part to make healthy decisions and live our lives responsible for our actions and choices. Choose healthy foods and think of sweets as an occasional treat instead of your earned daily dessert. Stop planning to purchase a membership to a gym and just start exercising, every day. Get enough sleep. Stop being anxious and just do the things that you can do to make life better for yourself and others. These are age-old truths that have always defined good health.

Ultimately, our health will not by determined but the pills that we have purchased, but by the choices that we have made as we daily live out life. How will you choose to spend your life, pursuing a better pill or living a healthier life?

Written by Thomas F. Coburn, MD